Over the last several years, there has been tremendous advancement in understanding how sickness and diseases are spread by pathogens. Hard surfaces that people touch can harbor pathogens for hours. There are flu viruses that can live on hard surfaces for 24 hours or more. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections. MRSA infection can live for weeks on hard surfaces.
When a person touches an infected surface and immediately touches their face, bites their nails, or scratches an open wound, those pathogens may be easily transmitted to a new person, causing them to get sick and the cycle continues. As a result, there are numerous chemical products on the market to help reduce person-to-person transmission of pathogens from casual contact with the surfaces they touch. Hand sanitizer, chemical sprays and wipes are typically used to disinfect surfaces.
Despite the popularity of chemical disinfectants, there are downsides to using chemicals for the sanitation of hard surfaces and hands. Some people have allergic reactions to chemicals. Chemicals are a consumable item that requires restocking. Some chemicals, such as bleach, are caustic to a person's skin, and have an unpleasant odor. To truly be effective on hard surfaces, the chemicals need to be used after each person touches the surface, which is not practical.
As a result, there have been several inventions developed that use UV-C light to disinfect hard surfaces. These products range from a variety of wands that plug into a wall that people use to pass over an item and enclosures in which an object is placed and then the UV-C light is turned on for disinfection. All of these UV-C devices require manual operation by the user. There are also UV devices used to sanitize entire rooms such as operating rooms. Though these items may be effective at killing pathogens, they may not be used as much as they should be because they are not automatic, or are too bulky, or are cumbersome to use after each contact with a surface. In addition, these devices typically use traditional filament type bulbs that produce a lot of heat, and cannot be cycled on and off repeatedly. They require warm up and cool down cycles. If they were used in areas where they needed to be cycled hundreds of times a day those bulbs would likely burn out very quickly.